“She is,” he said before we fell into silence again. Exactly the path I’d hoped the conversation would take.
It was the truth about Renee. After Nitro took me back to his house last night, they’d discussed some family stuff they had going on. I’d deduced her mother was in hospital due to her current mental health, and it appeared that Renee was perhaps more able to care for herself than her mother was. It also seemed to me that she got away with a bit where Nitro was concerned. She’d given him hell for a few things and he’d let her. That had both surprised me and impressed me. It was another side to Nitro I wouldn’t have expected.
And then he’d grunted at me about my sleeping choice and gone to bed after I reiterated that I would not be sleeping there with him. Renee had set me up with a pillow and blankets. She’d also apologised that there was only one couch and she had taken it.
I stared at the rain streaming down the front windscreen of the car and thought about Nitro. He was turning out to be a contradiction, but then, I should never have doubted that. If there was one thing I’d learnt in my line of work, people always were. Especially the troubled ones.
We reached our destination and, after making his way through the two security checkpoints, he pulled the car into a car park that was miles from the front door of the clubhouse. The reason being, that there were a lot of bikes there that morning.
I met Nitro at the front of the ute. “You having a meeting here today?” I asked, glancing at all the bikes as we walked towards the clubhouse.
“You could say that.” He jerked his chin at a biker who we passed on the way. “Slider.”
The guy nodded in response. “Nitro.”
“You boys are big on conversation.”
He stared down at me and ignored my sarcasm. “We get the job done.”
Another sarcastic comment died as it left my mouth when a loud bang sounded from behind us. Shock rippled through me as confusion set in, and Nitro’s arm came around my shoulders right before he pushed me to the ground.
My ears rang with the sound of an explosion and the vibrations of it slammed into me. A scream tore from my mouth, but I couldn’t hear it and I couldn’t feel it. Numbness set in as I tried like hell to process what was happening.
Nitro’s body covered mine, his strong arms sheltering me from the terror of what was happening.
I was suffocating.
Couldn’t breathe.
My chest is going to explode.
And then—“Vegas, you breathing?” Nitro’s heavy body moved off mine and he pulled me up.
I stared into his concerned eyes, surprised to see worry there. It was all I could focus on. Even the pain ricocheting through me didn’t register. Why is he bothering to check on me?
“Tatum!” he barked, shaking me. “You good?”
Men ran past us.
Yelling.
Bodies colliding.
Confusion.
Anger.
And all the while, Nitro stayed with me, making sure I was all right.
I blinked. Nodding, I croaked, “Yeah, I’m good.”
His chest heaved with a heavy breath. “Go inside and wait for me.”
He let me go, and when I didn’t move, he yelled, “Now!”
My attention drifted beyond him and I took in the car that had exploded. As the realisation settled in my bones that we’d been that close to danger, I turned and ran towards the clubhouse.
What the fuck had I gotten myself into?
13
Nitro
“Live And Let Die” by Guns N’ Roses
King barked orders like he was running World War III. It felt like he was. The bomb in Slider’s car had killed him and injured three more members who had been entering the grounds on their bikes. They’d been lucky to escape death.
A hand landed on my shoulder and I turned to find Hyde behind me. “You and I are gonna round up some boys and go take a look at Silver Hell’s clubhouse. I have a feeling they’re not gonna be there, and wanna confirm it before we set new plans in play.”
“We also need to sort out what we’re gonna do with our families, Hyde. Our resources will be spread thin now, too thin to allocate a watch over everyone.” Ever since we’d realised Silver Hell’s agenda to harm club members’ families, we’d stationed men to watch over them. We needed those men back after this and I’d be fucked if I was gonna leave Renee and Dustin out there on their own with this kind of threat hanging over us. I wanted them at the clubhouse, safe.
“Yeah. You round up the boys while I discuss that with King,” he agreed and left me to go talk with King.
* * *
Two hours later, Hyde, Devil, Kick and I entered our clubhouse after verifying that Silver Hell were nowhere to be found. We’d checked their clubhouse, as well as the bars and clubs we knew they frequented. After that, we called around to see if anyone knew where they were, and were met with silence. Either no one knew or they weren’t talking.
Chaos had broken out while we were gone. We returned to find the clubhouse packed with men, women and kids. The noise was deafening, the tension visible.
Pushing our way through to the office, the four of us relayed what we’d discovered to King.
“This had to be Silver Hell,” he said.
Hyde nodded. “Seems that way.”
King’s face hardened. “I want them flushed out, and I don’t care how we do it. Visit all their strip clubs, all their friends, anyone and everyone, and find out where they are.”
His phone sounded with a call and he dismissed us as he pressed it to his ear.
I was halfway down the hallway outside of his office when he called me back. “You look like you wanna kill me,” I said when I stood in front of him again.
“That blonde is proving to be a fucking headache, Nitro.”
“Why?”
He held his phone up. “That was Billy. He’s outside and wants her to leave with him. Says he’ll reconsider our new agreement for him to supply weapons and ammo if we don’t allow her to leave.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Make sure you take care of it so that it never causes me another headache.”
I lifted my chin at him signalling I would and then stalked out of his office to find Tatum.